Mass Manga Purchase Due to Closing Borders Stores

Good morning Anime Vice! I know this blog is going up really early compared
to the usually "Dunce Cap" episode but there will not be one today as the video was
not done. Should be one ready for Friday, though. Therefore, this is a
supplement blog.

As many of you probably know, Borders is closing a
large number of stores due to declaring Chapter 11. 3 or 4 of of those stores
were in 1 city a couple hours from where I live so I just had to go since
everything was 20-40% off. A friend and I ended up going to 2 stores in the city
and then another in the town where I went to college (it was not closing). Turns
out that manga was only 20% off at both stores...But that did not deter us. I
think my friend ( tazfreak1987) spent about $100 when I spent $200. The good part is that I
ended up with 20 volumes and was able to finish 2 series. I won't bore you with the details yet so here is a pic of Saturday's purchases along with 4 volumes I bought the weekend before!

I have 12 volumes left to read from what you see above and I can't wait to talk about them in Dunce Cap for all of you! When I finish them all up I'll hand them off to tj1987 so he can read them to provide feedback as well. In the end there were a few Volume 1s I passed on for the sake of getting more volumes of series I already started. Was a little disappointed to not find volumes of a couple other series I've been eyeing. Lastly, many of you can also tell that just about all of the manga is either a Viz Media or Yen Press product. I don't mean for it to be that way but they publish pretty much every title I'm interested in. Enough from me for today so feel free to comment and I encourage y'all to check out these manga!

-Will McQuigg ( sotyfan16) is your everyday anime/manga enthusiast. You can also find him on Twitter ( bildo_88).

@sickVisionz:lol Technically, with the additional 4 volumes there the total is $250. And, $250 would have been the cost of the 20 volumes I just bought had they not been 20% off. I had stated before in comments and blogs that I was making manga a priority this year. I believe I've done that. No more spending on my part for a couple months as expenses I've never had are looming.

Nice! You bought Bakuman.; I love that series! Unfortunately, I haven't been able to buy the manga volumes yet because I'm saving my money for the release of part 2 of a certain anime that comes out in the next two weeks.

And holy crap, $200?! I only buy one volume at a time... I think, in total, I haven't even spent that much on manga. *looks at shelf* Maybe, what, $75 dollars? Less?

I'm looking forward to the Dunce Cap video. I've only seen one, the one you did on Death Note, but I want to see the next one you come up with!

Wow, looking at all of that almost makes me wish I still read, but it's just not something I've got the time for these days or the space come to think of it. Kudos to you though for your haul. I have to ask how you store your books. When I was still collecting comics and manga a decade ago, everything was "bagged and boarded" even larger books. As you can guess, I had large boxes full while my "normal" bookcase had a bunch of paperbacks I'd bought at the used bookstore during when I was really into reading sci-fi and mysteries. So where do all your manga books go? Do you have a special bookcase or do they go into a white-box store container? Or maybe just piled under the bed.

Back when I did collect, I don't think I ever spent $200 in one store, but I know for certain I came close and that's not adjusted for inflation. Kudos to you for taking the plunge.

I use to work at a Borders for a while. Didn't really get that far, it was just a seasonal job, but I became good friends with the manager. Manga fans use to drive her crazy because generally they would come inside and read the manga they wanted to read and then leave without making a purchase. Some would even bend the bridge so far back that the product would become "usellable." She was a borderline obsessive compulsive when it came to the bridges of her books so take that with a grain of salt. I never minded them as they weren't messy or anything. They were always nice kids, but I think they always thought I was some sort of pervert because they would be middle schoolers most of the time (which is why they never made purchases...they had no money and were waiting for their parents to pick them up) and I always made it a habit of keeping an eye on them and asking if they needed any help. It got even more awkward when I did my on site experience for teaching and the students learned who I was.

@OneHelluvaGirl:I'm making manga my priority this year over anime. Good to know Dunce Cap is getting noticed more and more.

@PenguinDust:Well I bought 4 volumes 2 weekends ago at one store, then this past weekend I bought 10 volumes at one, 9 volumes at another, and 1 volume at yet another. As for storage, they are stacked on my floor along with all my games and movies. I really have no place to actually organize everything..which is sad since I've lived where I am now for 5 years. But most of that was spent at college.

@sora_thekey:I didn't know that! I had a free weekend and wanted to get what I could before the stores were empty. Starting next week my purchases will be covered in Dunce Cap. Not sure yet what I'll do for this Friday's episode because I want to keep Summer Wars for when I get together with my co-host. You're more than welcome to read what I got. lol

@zombiepie:That's funny. There are some stores I'd like to work at because of employee discounts but it's no big deal since I wait for sales.

Dude! You went to Borders, too. I did too. My blog is not detailed like yours. I only bought 8 mangas and 1 book. I did not save much as I thought. Each book is roughly 10 dollars and the discount is 20-40%. It's only 20% just like your store. Also, I got another email that Borders is increasing the discount to 50%, but I am spent already and most of manga and comics are gone. The good ones I add. Edit: You beat me at spenting.

@EquitasInvictus:Amazon itself has at least volumes 2-4, 6, and 8 of Sundome. Rightstuf has all 8. I'll talk about the series in Dunce Cap eventually and plan to write a review for each volume as well.